The Boom of Cantonese Embroidery in Qing Dynasty

 

Cantonese Embroidery in Guangzhou
 

Under the policy of “One Treaty Port” imposed by the Qing government, Guangzhou became a crucial crossroad for Chinese and Western trading, as it was the first place where it was possible for foreigners and trading companies to own land in China. Hence, Cantonese embroidery was the first form of embroidery that started to be exported. The Cantonese embroidery industry converted into one of the most important civil handicraft businesses in that period.

According to “The Record of Sino-Foreign Trading”《華洋貿易情形略》:
 

“In 1889, the total export value was 22.5 million and the export value of embroidery was around 220,000.”
 

With the British East India Company set up in Guangzhou, the demand for Cantonese embroidery products rose. Apart from the traditional Cantonese embroidery, companies would also order many products with unique patterns, including clothing, business cards, portraits and so on. The large number of transactions helped to promote Cantonese embroidery and made it well-known among foreigners.
 

According to the “Chinese Export Art in the 18thCentury”《十八世紀中國出口藝術品》: “In the 18th century, British ladies loved using scarves withChinese embroidery … they took embroidery patterns to Guangzhou for embroidery processing through the British East India Company.” (Jourdain, 1950)

 

 

Embroidery Craftwork Factory in Guangzhou

 

During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, more than 50 factories were set up in
Guangzhou. The Guangzhou embroidery craft union, Samite Store, was also
established. Most of the factories were located in Zhuangyuan Fang (狀元坊),
Xinsheng Jie (新勝街) and Shameen (沙面). More than 3,000 people worked in the
embroidery industry. (Gong, 2010)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The structure of the Factory

 

Zhuang Kou 莊口

After the Opium War, Shameen became a British and French concession. Lots of foreign firms set up their businesses there. Some of the companies received orders for Cantonese embroidery from overseas, and people in the handicraft industry used to call those companies “Zhuang Kou”. The export industry for Cantonese embroidery consisted of compradors (買辦) and Zhuang Kou (Gong, 2010). In that period, buyers from overseas used to design the embroidery by themselves, sent the template to Guangzhou and solicited orders across Europe. After they had received all the orders, they would send them back to the Zhuang Kou, and the Zhuang Kou would help allot the orders to different factories.
 

Lantou 攬頭

The heads of the embroidery factories and the embroidery shop owners were called “Lantou”. They had economic strength and strong visibility in the industry and were closely related to the foreign companies. After the Lantou had received the orders from the Zhuang Kou, they copied the pattern of the embroidered sample, sent it to different home embroiderers and earned five percent commission. This commission was called “kowtow”, derived from the common saying“to get a commission, kowtow to thank”.
 

Hua Lao and Xiu Nu 花佬及繡女

There was a big difference between Cantonese embroidery and Shu and Xiang embroidery. The male embroiderers outnumbered their female counterparts, who dominated the textile art industry in other regions. The female embroiderers were not allowed to do their work in the factories. So no matter how good they were at doing embroidery, women could only be subordinate to Hua Lao. Only male embroiderers were able to join the craft union and were under the protection of the Lantou. (Gong, 2010)
 

From the early 19th century to the 20th century, the general embroidery work was divided into two processes. The first simple steps were finished by Xiu Nu. They needed to outline the embroidery based on the template. Afterwards, the work would be passed on to the Hua Lao. They were responsible for embroidering the details, such as facial features of the characters, the ornamentation on clothes as well as the mouth, claws, feathers and all other detailed features of birds and animals. Due to this division, the income of the Hua Lao was usually higher than that of the Xiu Nu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cultural Exchange between China and Western Countries

 

According to “Chinese Dyeing Art History”, written by S.W. Bossier in the 19th century:

“Chinese people are familiar with the embroidery of flowers and birds, and the Cantonese are especially good at this … Most of the Cantonese embroidery is exported to Europe, its influence is truly far-reaching. Cantonese embroidery also absorbed the artistic style of Western oil paintings, by enriching the design hue and expressive power of Guangzhou embroidery based on the principles of clairvoyance and light refraction.” (Chinatax.gov.cn, 2014)
 

In the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth I established an embroidery association, which produced gorgeous embroidered imperial costumes. The production pattern was similar to that of the embroidery craftwork factory in Guangzhou. For instance, this association only hired male embroiderers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Export Cantonese Embroidery

 

Cantonese embroidery was very popular amongWestern court ladies, who considered it as a new fashion. The exported Cantonese embroidery is gorgeous and very colourful. Chinese traditional stories and characters became a famous theme for exported Cantonese embroidery.
 

Imperial Cantonese Embroidery
 

In the article “Talk About Cantonese Embroidery” 《談廣繡》, written by
Shen Congwen 沈從文 in 1962, he investigated the collection of the Palace Museum and
identified some characteristics of Cantonese embroidery:
 

1. The main achievement of Cantonese embroidery is the ornamental hanging screen in the
late Qing dynasty.

2. It used to be embroidered on white satin (白緞地子).

3. Auspicious theme: the major subject matters of Cantonese embroidery are flowers and
birds, phoenix, peony, crane, monkey, deer, chicken and goose.

4. It seldom used literati paintings as its subject matter.

(Shen, 2002)

 

 

 

References

 

Bertin-Guest, J. (2003). Chinese embroidery. 1st ed. London: Batsford, pp.22-24, 53-59.

 

Jourdain, M. (1950). Chinese export art in the 18th century. 1st ed. Spring Books.

 

Kirby, J. and Cooksey, C. (2008). Dyes in history and archaeology. 1st ed. London: Archetype.

 

Shen, C. (2002). Hua hua duo duo, tan tan guan guan. 1st ed.

Nanjing: Jiangsu mei shu chu ban she.

 

Chinatax.gov.cn, (2014). 38th SGATAR MEETING 2008. [online] Available at: http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/n7847472/n7847548/n7849567/index.html [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014].